


Welcome to Zakera Ward!

by earlymorningechoes



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Daily Life on the Citadel, Gen, Moving, Zakera Ward
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 07:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18426150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlymorningechoes/pseuds/earlymorningechoes
Summary: When you're new to an area, a pamphlet explaining the ins and outs of daily life would be a helpful addition to your moving checklist. This is that pamphlet for Zakera Ward, one of the five Wards of the Citadel - learn about getting around, Citadel politics, and daily life!Paid for by the Non-Council Species Integration Effort.





	Welcome to Zakera Ward!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Irusu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Irusu/gifts).



> Happy Space Swap, Irusu!

_Printed by the Zakera Point Acclimation Center_

** Section 1: Introduction  **

Welcome to Zakera Ward! While this guide is designed specifically for those who are brand-new to Citadel life, we are so pleased to have you here, whether you have moved here from another ward on the Citadel, your home planet or colony, or from another space station.

This pamphlet is designed to give you a broad overview of Zakera Ward life, from Zakera Point all the way to Presidium Junction. While one could technically state that the Ward is primarily inhabited by volus, elcor, and hanar, Zakera Ward is a wonderful example of the blended world of the Citadel, with a large turian population in Pelakel, a human enclave near Shin Akiba, and a generally mixed-race populace throughout.

Living on the Citadel, and especially on the Wards, is an experience unlike any other. This guide is designed as a brief overview of Zakera Ward life, but should not be taken as the definitive answer on all situations. If you are confused or unsure about any situation, please feel free to contact an assimilation specialist at the Zakera Point Acclimatization Center or at any of our offshoots, scattered throughout the Ward. These locations are marked on the map of the Ward in Section 2, and species-specific acclimation counselors are listed in Appendix A.

_An artist’s rendition of Zakera Ward from outside follows, in flowing watercolors._

 

** Section 2: Getting Around  **

The first thing you have to know about Zakera Ward is how to get from Point A to Point B without getting lost. While the Ward is extremely large and can be extremely confusing, knowing a few main points can help you find your way around.

First of all, the point of Zakera Ward farthest from the Presidium is called Zakera Point, and the closest point is known as Presidium Junction. There are ten main sections of the Ward, called blocks, with the 100 block including Zakera Point and the 1000 block including Presidium Junction. Halfway between the two is the Mid-Ward District and, predictably, the 500 block. Each block is subdivided into sections, akin to streets in a planetside city. There are an ever-changing and ever-expanding number of sections as buildings and other areas are built and changed.

The superstructure of the Citadel itself is reserved for use by keepers, and entering this superstructure on anything other than sanctioned maintenance or building projects is strictly illegal for non-keeper Citadel inhabitants. Ignoring this prohibition will result in heavy fines and potential jail time.

Built on top of the Citadel superstructure are the buildings of Zakera Ward. Breathable atmosphere is only maintained to a height of 7 meters (about 23 feet), so all buildings above this height are sealed against vacuum. Do not attempt to climb the outside of buildings on the Citadel, as one might do on a planet. Every year new arrivals are hospitalized due to attempts to move outside of the artificial atmosphere. Don’t let that be you!

_A map fills the entire next screen. It is so covered in landmarks and labels that it is nearly unusable as a map._

A note about using the map - on the Wards, the cardinal direction north is defined by the direction of the Presidium Ring. So on Zakera Ward, north is towards Presidium Junction and south is toward Zakera Point, with west to your left from Zakera Point and east to your right.

An address on Zakera Ward consists of a variable number of parts, depending on whether an area has a common name in addition to its numbered block. These include the room and floor numbers, the building name or number, the section name or number, the block name, and the block number. For example, the address of the Zakera Point Acclimation Center is Floor 29, Building 3, Lalnwe Section, Zakera Point, 120 Block. If the area did not have the common name of Zakera Point, the address would simply remove that section and be Floor 29, Building 3, Lalnwe Section, 120 Block.

As you can see from the map, Zakera Ward is a lovely and crowded place, with everything a person could ever hope to find within transport distance. And speaking of transport, here's a quick overview of the varying types of transport available on the Ward:

  * Subway. On the highest level of the Citadel superstructure runs a subway system. This is the cheapest method of vehicular transit, but is the least direct.
  * Rapid transit. Large skycars built for many people, these are more direct than the subway and can access higher levels of buildings without requiring the user to disembark and walk.
  * Taxis. Hireable skycars to use for smaller numbers of users, these can be point to point but are more expensive than the many-user options.
  * Individual skycars. Private citizens may own their own skycars.



The ground level is reserved for walking and other non-motorized transit. There is no above-ground ground-based vehicular transit on the Citadel, which is a major cultural change for many new inhabitants from typical planets.

 

** Section 3: Politics  **

Like anywhere there are large numbers of people, the Citadel has its own political system. The Citadel Council is, of course, the head of government for all galactic affairs both for those living on the Citadel and those elsewhere. But for those living within the Citadel, other Citadel political bodies are of more daily importance. Listed here in descending order of reach are the main Zakera Ward political bodies:

  * Citadel Parliament - the governing body for the whole Citadel, the Parliament is akin to a national government. Members are elected from each Ward every 5 years, with 100 selected from each, for a total of 500 members. Additionally, a parliamentary minister is elected every three years.
  * Ward Council - akin to a state or provincial government, the Zakera Ward Council builds upon the laws set by the Citadel Parliament.
  * District Assembly - each of the full blocks (i.e., the 100 block in this sense encompasses the 100 block to the 190 block) has a District Assembly, akin to a city government.



All Citadel citizens over their species’ legislated age of majority are eligible to vote, as long as they can prove they have been living on the Citadel for at least five years and have a permanent address. Some have said this is designed deliberately to exclude more transient populations such as quarians, but it is simply a means to ensure that those taking part in running the Citadel truly know what living here is like.

_A picture of the Citadel fills the next screen, all five Ward arms open wide and the whole station a beacon of light._

 

** Section 4: Daily Life  **

While it is impossible to give a full rundown of what daily life would be like anywhere in the galaxy, there are a few aspects of Citadel life that are very different from the equivalent on planets. We’ll give a quick overview of some of these, and remember, if you have any other questions, feel free to contact any of the representatives at the main Acclimation Center or at any of the satellites listed in Appendix A!

With no sun to orbit, the Citadel does not have the same method of day and night cycles as planets do. Galactic Standard Time, the timekeeping measure used on the Citadel, is therefore a derived way of keeping time, based off of asari, turian, and salarian time measures from Thessia, Palaven, and Sur’kesh. A day is 20 hours long. An hour is composed of 100 minutes, which are each composed of 100 seconds. The second is an average of the asari, salarian, and turian seconds, and is in fact about equal to the asari second, a small bit shorter than the turian, and somewhat longer than the salarian. In fact, it is approximately equal to half a human second.

_A table of conversions from Galactic Standard Time to various species and planet time systems follows._

On the Presidium, there is an official, artificial day-night cycle. This is not so on any of the Wards; the main Citadel lights are officially always on, with no set cycle. However, this is generally only observed in commercial areas or areas where there is no dominant species. In most residential areas, residents have contracted with Citadel maintenance crews to implement a day-night cycle, sometimes based on the dominant species’ preferred time, sometimes based on Galactic Standard Time and matching the Presidium’s official cycle. This sort of piecemeal changing of light levels can cause confusion for newcomers, especially when buildings across the section from one another appear to be functioning on entirely different clocks. It is soon commonplace, however, and omnitool apps that help with time conversion for appointments in other areas are plentiful and readily available.

Many other aspects of Citadel life are also this piecemeal. While Council Standard is the official language of the Citadel, a language originally sprung from the melding of asari and salarian dialects after first contact that has now been influenced by each of the galaxy’s known species, each species present on the Citadel speaks thousands of languages individually. Many people living on the Citadel use their mother tongue or another species-specific language for everyday use, and many shops have universal translators available for those who do not use their own. Signs in many areas are in a variety of languages, in hopes that at least one will be legible to both inhabitants and visitors of the area. For new arrivals, it is often helpful to pick up at least a few words of Council Standard, even if your native language is spoken by others on the Citadel, to ensure that you are able to safely find your way around.

You can find members of most species in most areas of Zakera Ward, both as a place to work and a place to live. However, as many people prefer to be surrounded by the familiar, it is common to find clusters of people of the same species. When looking for a place to live as a newcomer to the Citadel, it is often easiest to look for space in a community of your own species. Anyone at the Acclimation Center can assist you with this process. There are also hotels scattered throughout commercial areas of the Ward, and, if nothing else, there are HabCapsules available in 633 block.

_Two pictures follow, one above the other. The first is Zakera Ward from approximately Zakera Point, showing various parts of the Ward in light while others are in darkness, skycars flying above it all. The second shows a bank of HabCapsules, from an artistic angle._

As said at the beginning of this section, there is no way to cover everything about everyday life on Zakera Ward in a short pamphlet. Experience is the best teacher, as a human proverb says! But if you have questions that you need answered, about any aspect of Citadel or Ward life, don’t hesitate to ask!

 

** Appendix A: Species-Specific Information  **

While the Citadel is home to members of many of the galaxy’s sapient organic species and is designed to facilitate a blended society of all those species, sometimes you simply need the advice of a familiar face. To that end, the Zakera Point Acclimation Center has satellite offices in various points around the Ward, with expert immigration assistants of many species ready and able to aide you in whatever way you need. They are listed here, and you can use the map in Section 2 to help find your way to these offices:

  * **Asari:** Arella N’Toni; Floor 4, Building 73, Relnew Section, Athame’s Refuge, 352 Block
  * **Batarian:** _not available_
  * **Drell:** Naria Heron; Suite 3350, Building 29, Section 2993, Enkindlement, 403 Block
  * **Elcor:** Xalnot; Floor 2, Building 89, Nalldel Section, 930 Block
  * **Hanar:** Kenynandar; Suite 3350, Building 29, Section 2993, Enkindlement, 403 Block
  * **Human:** Yasmin Khan; Floor 35, Starward Building, Trenton Section, Shin Akiba, 276 Block
  * **Krogan:** Kariss Barna; Suite 5532, Building 45, Section 578, 633 Block
  * **Quarian:** Ailis’Raan vas Citadel; Suite 5532, Building 45, Section 578, 633 Block
  * **Salarian:** Marleon Jarvik; Floor 13, Building 23, Karlon Section, Sur’kala, 478 Block
  * **Turian:** Ralkes Erevian; Floor 12, Building 34, Gralrus Section, Pelakel, 343 Block
  * **Volus:** Irees Faq; Floor 12, Building 34, Gralrus Section, Pelakel, 343 Block



Thank you for using this guide! We hope that you’ll come see us again, and that you have a safe, productive introduction to your new life on the Citadel!

_Paid for by the Non-Council Species Integration Effort_


End file.
